cop a spray
Bomb It! The Global Graffiti Documentary
Graffiti: art or public nuisance? A new documentary probes the endless debate about a global cultural phenomenon.
"We're not asking for the space, we're taking the space". So says one of the graffiti artists interviewed in Jon Reiss' Bomb It! The Global Graffiti Documentary. Tracing the history and evolution of graffiti culture from the subways of New York to the sewers of Sao Paulo, Reiss' film makes its Australian premiere in First Look and poses the question: who gets to decide what we look at everyday?
After shooting over four hundred hours of footage across five continents, Reiss has created a concise documentary that probes the endless debate around this cultural phenomenon: is graffiti an expression of boredom or an expression of art? Are graffiti writers political agitators and social rebels or are they just vandals and criminals?
The film includes interviews with famed artists and not so well-known street 'bombers' who proclaim that graffiti gives them a voice otherwise denied to them (Nunca, an artist in Brazil tells us that he tags his identity on public spaces because "Your name is the only thing you own; it's the first thing you have. You have to defend it"). But Reiss also gives air time to the naysayers who believe that public spaces are, well, for the public, and not for personal expression.
Reiss takes us to the streets of South Africa where graffiti is almost a 'luxury sport' because of the cost of spray paint (and where stealing one can of paint may lead to years in jail before a lengthy trial). He delves into the history of graffiti in Brazil where the art emerged in the 1960s and '70s as an expression of antifascist activism. And he journeys to Tokyo where 'tags' on the city's walls serve as signs that some of its citizens are breaking free from the culturally rigid society in which they belong.
Throughout, Reiss uses music to help transport us across the globe. From hip hop to electronica to the soulful sounds of the Soweto Gospel Choir, the film's music captures the energy, intensity and flavour of each individual place.
Whether you love having your city's streets turned into public galleries or think that the city's walls (and trains and trams and footpaths) should be left alone, Bomb It! will either confirm your beliefs about graffiti or make you think again.
Bomb It! screens as part of First Look from Thu 12 Feb to Sun 15 Feb. For session times and bookings click here.
Published Monday, 9 February 2009
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